Federal Freight Policy: An Overview (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Dec. 16, 2013 |
| Report Number |
R42764 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
John Frittelli Specialist in Transportation Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The federal government does not have a direct role in freight infrastructure planning and project\r development. Decisions about investment in public freight-oriented infrastructure are made by\r state departments of transportation (state DOTs), metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs),\r and state or local entities such as port authorities. Private infrastructure decisions, such as\r construction of new railroad yards, are largely made by the companies themselves. Congress has\r long been concerned that state and local institutions have difficulty providing a comprehensive\r approach to improving freight movement: unlike commuter trips, which generally begin and end\r within a metropolitan area, freight trip lengths often exceed the jurisdiction of a single MPO or\r even a state, so action to relieve a freight bottleneck in one jurisdiction may merely shift the\r problem to another.\r Allocating resources to freight at the federal level is difficult politically, for two reasons. First, it\r entails concentrating federal dollars in relatively few geographic areas. According to the\r American Trucking Associations, just 5% of the U.S. road system carries 75% of the nation\'s\r truck traffic. One-third of all rail traffic passes through Chicago, and while there are more than\r 40 U.S. container ports, 90% of the volume of containerized imports and exports is handled at\r just 10 ports. Second, federal funding decisions in freight transportation have the potential to\r create winners and losers. For example, a federal expenditure to deepen one harbor but not\r another could shift the flow of freight and the location of business investments and jobs.
